By Geno McGahee
For those that assumed that a stinker of a fight would be had between Jake Paul, 6-1, 4 KO’s, and Tommy Fury, 9-0, 4 KO’s, you were wrong. The two up and coming fighters went toe to toe and certain questions were answered in a fight that could have gone either way after the eight rounds.
Tommy Fury proved that his boxing skills can be smoother than we’ve seen. He was able to move and jab with regularity and showed a level of calm in the storm. Jake Paul showed a new hard jab that bothered Tommy at times and even scored a knockdown in the eighth round.
As expected, the stronger punches were harder from Paul and the activity rate was higher from Fury. Fury used his combinations trying to get Paul out of there, but Paul was cool under fire as the shots were being thrown in bunches.
The biggest problem with this fight was the referee that made himself part of the show and deducted a point from each guy for minimal infractions. Another referee would have made a difference in this fight and we would have gotten more action than we got, but even with the ref, the fight was action-packed.
With points deducted, bombs landed by each man and a knockdown in the final round, the result was in question. I had it even after 8, but the judges saw it 75-74 Paul, and 76-73 twice for Fury.
It was nice to see the two men show respect after the fight after 2 years of some of the biggest feuding seen in boxing. Unfortunately, Paul tarnished the fight a little by giving some excuses and saying he wasn’t 100 percent, but he showed he belonged in the ring with a boxer and should keep fighting boxers.
A rematch will probably be next up for both men.
